‘Multilateral war games need VFA amendment’

Vice President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona Jr. said the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) has to be amended before the Philippines could give way to US State Secretary Colin Powell’s suggestion for multilateral military exercises.

Guingona said Powell discussed with him the possibility of staging "war games" in the country with troops from the United States and other countries, during the Ministerial Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vietnam last week.

He said he told Powell that multilateral military exercises require the concurrence of the Philippine Senate because only bilateral exercises between the Philippines and the US are outlined in the VFA.

Guingona was one of the senators who voted against the continued stay of American forces in the country in 1991, and the VFA in 1998.

Admiral Dennis Blair, commander-in-chief in the Asia-Pacific, earlier expressed optimism about the holding of multilateral exercises.

Other countries being considered to join the war games are Singapore, Thailand and Australia.

Guingona said such exercises are aimed at combating terrorism, drug trafficking, human smuggling, piracy and kidnapping, and beefing up search and rescue operations. — Pia Lee-Brago